Play Praxis is a new space for game makers, players, and thinkers to explore how play can tell important stories, spark dialogue, and reshape culture, running all day on Thursday 16 April.

Games already explore identity, mental health, resistance, misinformation, or civic imagination. These conversations are happening in fragments, across indie studios, museums, research labs, and cultural institutions, but rarely in the same room. Play Praxis exists to bring them together.

The first Play Praxis ran in November last year. This edition, curated by Sindi Breshani and produced by Raphael Benros, is hosted at Siobhan Davies Studios. It explores The Human Mind through three strands:

• Game Demos, including a genre-bending murder mystery about social influence, where players begin to notice how perception can be shaped in real time, alongside two narrative works about resistance, memory and the quiet courage of remaining human under systemic pressure.

• Game Poems, experimental short games curated under the Game Poems Magazine

• PlayLab, an interactive strand exploring play beyond the traditional games industry, including a documentary-based experience about the true story of a percussionist

Throughout the day, curated roundtables bring makers and audiences into direct conversation, asking what makes a meaningful game successful, how we build shared language around 'impact games' and how we connect commercial development with cultural practices. With three guided sessions throughout the day, the audience will also design their own short game.

Exhibited works include* Game Poems Magazine*, curated by Jordan Magnuson, Solomon’s Secret from Cecilie Steenbuch-Traberg and Take Us North, Anima Interactive, with roundtables covering topics including game design, concept art and writing.